HUMMINGBIRD SPECIES

Lucifer Hummingbird

SCIENTIFIC NAME: Calothorax lucifer

The Lucifer Hummingbird's most distinctive features are its curved bill and narrow, forked tail.

The large head and heavy, downcurved bill seemingly overbalance its small, tapered body. Tail is very long and narrow, extending well beyond the wingtips.

It is a medium-sized hummingbird, about 3.9 inches long and weighs around 3 - 4 grams.

Adult males have a green back with a purple gorget that looks dark when it’s not catching the light. Breast is dingy and whitish.

Females are warm buffy below with green backs. Their cinnamon wash is particularly intense on the breast and throat. Overall, females are buffier below than other similar species of hummingbirds.

Immature males show a few spots of purple on the throat in the late summer.

CALL: "Chip" notes, often strung together in pairs or series. Also, a quiet "brzhee- brzhee."

SONG: The "song" of a male is a rattling flutter heard during the males' diving display flight.

Feeds primarily on nectar, but insects also comprise a portion of their diet.

Well adapted to desert life, preferring dry slopes with scattered desert vegetation and shrubs.

They can also be found in less arid environments, including grasslands and open woodlands, especially in the southern part of their range.

Southwestern United States, from southwest Texas, extreme southwestern New Mexico to southeastern Arizona, and in central and northern Mexico. It is also found in the Madrean sky islands of the northern end of the Sierra Madre Occidental, Mexico.

It winters in central Mexico.

The female builds a cup-shaped nest with a mix of plant material (plant down, plant fibers, leaves, or tiny stems), integrated with spider webs, and with the outside decorated with lichen or bits of bark.

It is typically built on rugged rocky slopes, cholla cactus, ocotillo, or sometimes other dry habitat vegetation.

The female 2 plain white eggs and incubates them for about 15 days.

SOURCES:
https://www.allaboutbirds.org
https://www.sdakotabirds.com
https://en.wikipedia.org